


I Need You

by laurenherondale



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Ed nygma - Freeform, Gotham, M/M, Nygmobblepot, Oswald Cobblepot - Freeform, The Penguin - Freeform, The Riddler - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 15:59:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14023695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurenherondale/pseuds/laurenherondale
Summary: Nygmobblepot Week Day 2: Sharing a Bed





	I Need You

The three of them, out of breath and panting like a pack of dogs, sprinted down the rickety staircase and tumbled into the safety of their hideout in the Narrows. Ed, the tallest of the three, stretched up to yank the trapdoor closed. It shut with a bang, making them all inhale a sharp breath as they waited for someone to hear, for Jerome to find them and heave the metal door up with a terrifying laugh.   
A minute passed, then another.  
Eventually Lee let out a sigh of relief. “I think we’re safe. If they’d heard us, they would have been onto us by now.”  
Ed nodded, feeling his heartbeat begin to gradually slow down. Oswald still hadn’t moved, his blue eyes fixated on the metal trapdoor.  
“You okay?” Ed asked him hesitantly. Oswald nodded slowly, lowering his gaze. He hadn’t mentioned it, but Ed knew that Jerome scared the Penguin more than he cared to admit. Ed didn’t know what torture Jerome had put Oswald through during his stint in Arkham, but Ed knew that it took a lot to scare Oswald this much. The man had nerves of steel.  
“Grundy?” Lee called. There was a series of mumbles from the bottom of the corridor, and the large white figure that used to be Butch Gilzean made his way over to them.  
“You’re ok, big fella,” Ed sighed. “No trouble? Anyone know we’re here?”  
Grundy shook his head. “Safe. Friends get sleep. I watch.”  
He didn’t wait for an answer, simply began to wander towards the front entrance. Ed glanced at Lee, who shrugged.  
“I guess we might as well get some sleep. We’ll need it.”  
The three of them walked down the corridor, stopping when they arrived at the two bedrooms at the end. Lee let herself into the smaller one, and was it just Ed’s imagination or was she smiling to herself?  
“Goodnight. Try not to kill each other during the night,” she said, swinging the door shut. Ed watched Oswald realise where that left them, and saw him swallow deeply.  
Ed, feeling nervous, pushed the door open. The room was pretty plain; the only furniture adorning the place was an old wooden closet and a double bed in the middle of the room.   
A double bed.  
Ed gulped.  
Oswald limped across the floor and crawled into the bed. “I am not sleeping on the floor.”  
Ed watched as he let his coat drop to the floor, watched as he yanked the covers over him and buried his face into the pillow. Ed took a deep breath before walking over to the other side of the bed, tapping Oswald on the shoulder.  
“Move over.”  
Oswald turned his head, eyes widening in surprise. “What?”  
“It’s a double bed, idiot. Means there’s room for two people,” Ed snapped. “Now, move.”  
Oswald hesitated for only a moment before doing as Ed asked. Ed shrugged his jacket off and undid his tie, lying them both on the ground. He removed his glasses and climbed into the bed, sliding underneath the covers.  
They lay in silence for a while, their backs pressed together, until Oswald broke the silence by saying, “Stop hogging the blanket.”  
“I’m like, twice the size that you are. I need more blanket.”  
Oswald huffed, but Ed knew him well enough to sense the laughter in his tone. Smiling, Ed felt slightly more at ease as he relaxed into his pillow.  
“Oswald?”  
“I’m trying to sleep, Ed.”  
“Did you mean anything you said in that letter you wrote to me? Or was it all just a trick to get me to come to Arkham?”  
There was a long pause, and Ed suddenly wished he had not asked. Eventually Oswald muttered a response, saying it into the soft cotton of the pillow so that Ed couldn’t hear it.  
“Didn’t catch that.”  
“Of course I did, idiot,” Oswald muttered. Ed faltered; he had expected a laugh, a quick dismissal of the notion... but Oswald apparently had meant every word of the letter he’d sent.  
“Then I just want to say that I’m sorry too,” Ed said quietly. “You apologised in your letter- seems only fair that I do too.”  
“Apology accepted,” Oswald said stiffly, and Ed could feel the muscles the other man’s back tighten with tension. He hadn’t been this close to Oswald in so long, not since their days as Mayor and Chief of Staff, but even then they had never been lying in the same bed, their backs pressed together, separated by nothing but some flimsy clothing.  
And the Riddler part of him was telling him to go for it, and the Ed Nygma part of him was shaking with terror, but both halves of him knew what they wanted and the urge was growing stronger by the second and Ed knew if he didn’t act on it he was going to scream.  
Ed sat bolt upright, breathing heavily. Oswald turned his head once again, looking irritated.  
“For the last time, I am trying to sleep-“  
“I can't wait any more,” Ed whispered, not entirely sure which half of him was speaking, but neither side protested when he bent his head to press his mouth against Oswald’s. The other man remained frozen in shock for a split second before coming to his senses and pulling away, breathing shakily as he stared at Ed.  
“Oswald,” Ed began helplessly. The pair locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity.  
But then Oswald moved, and Ed felt his heart explode inside his chest as their lips collided again, burning hot and fiery against each other. Kissing Isabella had been nothing like this, not even kissing Kristen... this feeling was completely foreign, the feeling of a million fireworks going off inside him, and Ed couldn’t get enough of it.  
“Don’t stop,” he whispered, his voice catching in his throat. Oswald broke away, his eyes slightly wet.  
“I’m sorry,” Ed said. “I didn’t... I didn’t mean...”  
“Why now?” Oswald said, his voice so soft Ed could barely hear him. “Why, after everything we’ve been through simply because I fell in love with you... why now?”  
Ed faltered, because really, did he even know the reason himself?   
“The day I shot you was the worst day of my life,” Ed managed. “It ruined me. It wasn’t until that moment that I realised how much I...”  
Oswald raised an eyebrow.  
“How much I need you,” Ed whispered. “How much I’ll always need you.”  
Oswald paused. “Is this permanent? Is this even you, or just some crazy Riddler idea? Are you gonna wake up tomorrow as Ed with no memory of any of this?”  
“This is me, Oswald. It’s the Riddler and it’s Ed- it’s me. Me, as a whole.”  
And they were kissing again, and Ed could barely contain his soft moan of relief.   
“So,” Oswald grinned as he pressed his lips to the side of Ed’s neck. “It was only after you shot me in the gut that you realised you loved me?”  
“Maybe,” Ed replied. “That, or the fact a drugged hallucination of you tried to seduce me while singing Amy Winehouse.”  
Oswald jerked away.  
“What?”


End file.
